Sunday, November 11, 2012

The recent pix on Cielo Drive. com of Watson's pistol
prompted me to do a bit of looking.

The left side
of the gun can be seen HERE
The right
side of the gun, along with pieces of the broken grip can be seen HERE

I'm
guessing within the first hours (or days at least), some of the police knew
the pistol was a Hi-Standard Longhorn "Double Nine". The large piece
of broken grip found at the crime scene, appears to have the Hi-Standard
"trigger" badge still in place. The High Standard Longhorn was a very
common model and a firearms expert would probably recognize it quite
quickly from the markings on the small metal disc on the piece of grip
alone.

The FIRST HOMICIDE INVESTIGATION PROGRESS
REPORT says in part:

"Most of the polygraph keys which could have been used were released to
the press by patrol personnel prior to investigating officers' arrival
on the scene, or at least without their knowledge".
Four polygraph keys that have not been released are as follows:

#2.
The revolver used was a caliber 22, Hi-standard, "Double Nine"
"Longhorn". The weapon has a 9 1/2-inch barrel and is 15 inches in
overall length. It has a blue steel finish and a 9-shot capacity. It has
walnut grips. The right grip from this weapon was broken at the scene
and is in police custody. The weapon has a catalogue number of 9399."

That
information may have been derived simply from the badge on the piece of
broken grip, long before the rest of the gun was found.

I've
included some pix of various Hi-Standard Longhorn "Double
Nines", showing some of the features and markings that appear to be
consistent with Watson's pistol.
The Hi-Standard Longhorn was a very
common pistol with many different variations.
I read Sears had a large
stake in the company and sold some models for as little as $35.

Other
manufactures made similar models, it would take too long to try to
contrast them here. "Hi-Standard" is clearly visible on the pic of the
pistol purported to be Watson's on the Cielodrive website, other
markings are consistent with those found on other examples of the
Hi-Standard "Double Nine" as well.

21 comments:

I haven't been over to the Cielo website in quite some time.While checking to make sure our links worked correctly, I visited there.It seems the gun's make and model are (already) clearly labebled on the Cielo website.Well... everything but the "double Nine" part, anyway.Is that significant?I don't know jack shit about guns.

Isn't a .22 caliber gun, like the weakest pistol one can buy?I thought a .22, was like a rabbit and squirrel gun?'Course... I wouldn't want one fired at me, to find out! LOL!

The actual model number of Tex's gun can be seen in Sunset's link above. It was a Model W-104Hugh Obrians "Wyatt Earp Show" lasted from 1955-1961" and that show made the Buntline famous. It was the number one most watched show on tv.The Buntline name came from wild west dime novelist and newspaper man named Ned Buntline who gave the real Wyatt Earp a special made long barrel revolver manufacrured by Colt Firearms.

If you doubt the lethality of a 22LR bullet(long rifle) watch the above video. The majority of deaths from guns are caused by the 22LR since it easily penetrates and damages vital organs. The 22LR bullet travels faster than the much bigger Luger 9mm bullet or the even bigger Colt 45 bullet.

On the pic of the left side of Watson's gun on CieloDrive.com, the words "Hi-Standard" are marked on the barrel. Near the cylinder, ".22 cal" can be seen. In between there is a tiny marking that may be part of the Hi-Standard Longhorn "steer skull" logo. It was an emblem of a steer skull with the words "double nine" between the horn tips. It's hard to tell from the small bit seen in the pic. However, that's where the "double nine" logo "should" be, part of it can be seen on the gun in the last pic posted at the top.

The pic of the right side of Watson's gun on CieloDrive.com shows writing on that side of the barrel. I'm pretty certain it says "Hamden Conn USA". The Hi-Standard factory was located in Hamden Connecticut for many years. Underneath the front part of the cylinder are almost certainly the serial number and "series" number.

Often Hi-Standard would make changes to the original design of the pistol. These were indicated by a new "series" number. One change I'm aware of was the original design didn't have a spring on the shell casing ejection rod in the cylinder. That meant if you pushed the ejection pin and ejected the spent casings, but "forgot" to pull the pin back toward the muzzle, then tried to close the cylinder, it left a big nasty scratch on the frame of the gun. This was modified by putting a spring on the cylinder ejection pin so it "automatically" returned to the cylinder closed position when you let go of it. This was indicated by a new series number.

Unfortunately, I was unable to make out the serial number and series of Watson's, pistol. If I had them I might be able to download the owners manual for that exact pistol, determine date of manufacture, and possibly the point of original shipment.

The cylinder release and trigger guard are damaged on Watson's pistol, also the right grip is broken. The grip pieces were found at the crime scene. I'm guessing some of the other damage may have been caused when the pistol was tossed from from a moving car.

Watson said in his book Manson was "very fond" of that pistol, I doubt if he would have been very fond of it, if the trigger guard was broken and cylinder release bent.

Hi Sunset - Thank you for pointing out that the gun is not a Buntline. Since I know next-to-nothing about guns, and because this one is so often referred to as a Buntline, I just assumed. I'll have to correct those photo titles when I have the time.

As you mentioned in your post, there is a Longhorn emblem on there, though its hard to see it on the low rez version I have posted on the site.

You are also correct about it saying Hamden Conn. Again, it's hard to see it in that version, but it actually reads..

Dallas, Tex., Nov. 12 – On Wednesday, November 12, 1969 an officer from the Venice Police Department placed a phone call to the Parker Center and asked if homicide detectives wanted to talk to Al Springer. Springer, a member of the Straight Satans motorcycle club – and friend of Danny DeCarlo – had some interesting information about a guy named Charlie and the Tate / LaBianca murder.

Sergeants Frank Patchett and Manuel “Chick” Gutierrez brought Springer to the Parker Center, sat him down in an interrogation cubicle and hit the record button.

SPRINGER'S BIO EXCERPTED FROM CIELODRIVE.COM:

Al Springer, 26 years-old at the time of this interview, was a member of the Straight Satans motorcycle club. Springer, who was originally from Alam, Michigan, lived in Torrance, California with his wife and kids.

Springer had first met Charles Manson a few days after the Tate-LaBianca murders, when he went to Spahn Ranch to talk his fellow club brother, Danny DeCarlo, into leaving. According to Springer, Manson attempted to impress him by bragging about the murders, saying, “we knocked off five of them, just the other night”

Deputy District Attorney Vincent Bugliosi didn’t end up using Springer as a trial witness. However, Springer did testify before the Los Angeles County Grand Jury that eventually indicted Charles Manson for the murder of Gary Hinman.

Although he was entitled to a share, Springer never collected his portion of the $25,000 reward put up by actors Peter Sellers, Warren Beatty and Yul Brynner.

Al Springer worked as a millwright for Lease Finance Corp. Co-Generation Plant in Yuba City, California. He passed away at the age of 56, at Rideout Memorial Hospital on Sunday, May 21, 2000. He was survived by his wife, 6 sons, and 9 grandchildren."

---------------------------------

#2) BRIAN DAVIS WILL BE INTERVIEWING NIKOLAS SCHREK FOR TWO FULL HOURS, ON NOVEMBER 25TH.

http://starcityradio.com/tlbradio.html

FOR ANYONE CONSIDERING SCHREK'S BOOK, THIS SHOULD BE A GREAT LITMUS TEST.

FRIENDS

"Charlie Manson is a five foot seven schizophrenic, who if it weren't for the murder of Sharon Tate, would never be known or discussed. And I'm not saying he isn't funny and entertaining. I'm saying he's a dime a dozen criminal-class punk, who had the good fortune of running into some middle class pseudo-revolutionary white girls." -- Tom G

"The simple and undeniable truth, is that Charlie and the gang were/are the biggest idiots, morons and imbeciles on the planet." -- Leary7

"Them fucking fruitcakes could not pour piss out of a boot, with the bottom written on it."--Harold True